King Abdullah’s address to the Arab and Islamic ‎Nations and the International Community

August 1, 2014

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin ‎Abdulaziz’s statement to the Arab and Islamic ‎Nations and the International Community

In the name of God the Merciful, and peace and blessings be ‎upon the Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions

Dear brothers in the Arab and Islamic nations:
May God’s peace, mercy and the blessings be upon you.
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With the heart of a believer in the Almighty God who says in ‎His Book: “And fear a trial which will not strike those who ‎have wronged among you exclusively, and know that Allah is ‎severe in penalty” and “fitnah (sedition) is worse than killing.” ‎This sedition and discord, which has found a fertile ground in ‎our Arab and Islamic worlds, and which has been given every ‎facility by those biased and hateful towards our nation to the ‎degree that they has been deluded to think that they have gained ‎strength by spreading terrorism and corruption in the world. ‎They went further in their falsehood, ignoring the words of God ‎Almighty: “Rather, We dash the truth upon falsehood, and it ‎destroys it, and thereupon it departs.”
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It is shameful and disgraceful that these terrorists are doing this ‎in the name of religion, killing the people whose killing God ‎Almighty has forbidden, and mutilating their bodies and taking ‎pride in publishing this. They do all of this in the name of a ‎religion that is innocent of them. They have distorted the image ‎of Islam, with its purity and humanity, and smeared it with all ‎sorts of bad qualities by their actions, their injustice, and their ‎crimes, making all those who do not know the reality of Islam ‎believe that what is committed by these traitors expresses the ‎message of the Prophet of mercy, peace be upon him, of whom ‎God Almighty said: “And We have not sent you, [O ‎Muhammad], except as a mercy to the world.”‎

From the cradle of revelation and the birthplace of the Prophet ‎Muhammad (pbuh), I call on leaders and scholars of the Islamic ‎nation to carry out their duty towards God Almighty, and to ‎stand in the face of those trying to hijack Islam and present it to ‎the world as a religion of extremism, hatred, and terrorism, and ‎to speak the word of truth, and not fear anybody. Our nation ‎today is passing through a critical, historic stage, and history ‎will be witness against those who have been the tool exploited ‎by the enemies to disperse and tear the nation and tarnish the ‎pure image of Islam.
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In addition to all of this, we see the blood of our brothers in ‎Palestine shed in collective massacres that have not excluded ‎anyone. War crimes are committed against humanity without ‎any human or moral deterrence. Terrorism has gained various ‎forms, whether groups, organizations or countries which makes ‎it most dangerous in potential, intentions and plots. All of this is ‎happening while the international community is watching ‎silently with all its institutions and organizations, including ‎human rights organizations. This community is silently ‎observing what is happening in the whole region and is ‎indifferent to what is occurring, as if what is happening does not ‎concern it. This silence has no justification. Is the world not ‎aware that this will lead to the emergence of a generation that ‎believes only in violence, rejects peace and believes in the ‎clash and not dialogue among civilizations?
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I mention here that ten years ago, at the Riyadh conference, we ‎called for the establishment of the International Centre for ‎Counter-terrorism. The proposal was supported by the entire ‎world at the time. The aim is to coordinate among states, but we ‎were disappointed afterwards because of the lack of serious ‎interaction by the international community with this idea, ‎which has led to lack of activation of the proposed center in a ‎way that achieves the great hopes we pinned on it.‎

Today, we say to those who fail to carry out their historic ‎responsibilities against terrorism for temporary interests or ‎suspicious schemes that they will be its first victims tomorrow, ‎as if they have not learned from the experience of the recent ‎past that did not spare anyone.‎
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O Allah, I have spoken; O Allah, bear witness. O Allah, I have ‎spoken; O Allah, bear witness. O Allah, I have spoken; O Allah, ‎bear witness 'And those who have wronged are going to know to ‎what [kind of] return they will be returned.'